Number of bachelor's degree recipients per 100 persons of the typical age of graduation, by sex and country: 2002 through 2006

Country

Typical age of graduation

Total

Male

Female

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

OECD average1

—

31.8

—

34.3

36.3

37.8

26.9

—

27.8

29.0

30.3

36.9

—

40.9

43.9

45.8

Australia

20-24

50.7

54.8

46.9

59.9

59.6

43.0

46.7

37.4

47.9

47.4

58.8

63.4

57.0

72.5

72.5

Austria

22-26

18.0

19.0

19.6

20.4

21.7

17.9

18.7

19.0

19.0

20.4

18.1

19.4

20.3

21.8

22.9

Belgium (Flemish)

22-24

19.2

—

18.3

18.4

19.0

18.7

—

17.5

17.0

17.9

19.7

—

19.0

19.8

20.2

Canada

22-24

—

—

31.5

33.6

39.3

—

—

24.3

25.2

29.5

—

—

39.1

42.2

49.7

Czech Republic

22-25

15.4

17.3

21.0

26.0

30.7

14.3

15.9

18.8

22.6

26.5

16.6

18.8

23.4

29.5

35.2

Denmark

22-26

34.4

38.6

49.9

52.9

50.3

23.4

25.1

35.6

37.2

37.0

45.7

52.3

64.4

69.2

63.7

Finland

22-28

51.8

55.8

54.7

53.8

57.3

37.7

40.4

39.5

38.8

40.6

66.4

72.2

70.5

69.7

74.5

France

20-25

39.0

41.5

40.0

—

34.2

32.9

34.9

33.4

—

30.6

45.3

48.4

46.9

—

37.9

Germany

24-27

19.2

19.5

20.6

20.5

21.0

19.3

19.3

20.3

20.0

20.0

19.1

19.7

20.9

21.1

22.0

Greece

(2)

—

—

19.1

23.9

23.5

—

—

13.3

16.3

16.1

—

—

25.4

32.2

31.7

Hungary

23-24

31.1

33.6

37.3

41.5

38.2

23.2

24.6

26.6

29.0

26.1

39.3

43.2

48.4

54.5

51.0

Iceland

23-26

40.0

44.2

50.5

56.3

62.8

27.2

29.4

31.4

33.6

37.7

53.1

59.1

70.3

80.5

89.6

Ireland

21-24

30.9

36.8

38.6

40.7

42.8

25.6

29.7

31.9

33.3

33.4

36.2

44.0

45.3

48.0

52.5

Italy

22-25

22.4

27.8

40.1

44.8

42.7

19.2

24.0

33.3

37.3

35.1

25.6

31.6

47.2

52.7

50.6

Japan

22-24

34.1

34.4

36.3

36.9

38.7

40.2

40.1

41.4

41.3

42.8

27.6

28.5

31.0

32.2

34.3

Korea, Republic of

21-23

31.5

31.7

32.3

35.5

41.0

31.6

32.1

31.5

34.8

40.2

31.3

31.2

33.2

36.2

41.7

Mexico

(2)

16.5

14.3

13.8

15.2

18.1

15.6

13.3

13.1

14.5

16.7

17.4

15.3

14.4

15.9

19.5

Netherlands

21-24

38.6

42.5

42.9

47.2

49.2

34.4

36.4

37.2

40.2

42.9

42.9

48.7

48.6

54.3

55.7

New Zealand

21-24

41.6

39.0

47.6

49.0

53.5

31.8

29.1

34.9

36.6

40.6

51.3

49.1

61.0

62.0

67.0

Norway

22-25

41.1

42.0

43.3

42.1

45.1

29.7

30.0

31.5

28.8

31.9

52.8

54.2

55.3

55.8

58.8

Poland

23-25

—

—

44.4

45.0

44.8

—

—

32.6

32.8

32.9

—

—

56.6

57.6

57.1

Portugal

22-24

—

—

32.9

33.7

34.9

—

—

20.4

21.7

22.7

—

—

45.6

46.0

47.4

Slovak Republic

21-24

—

—

28.3

30.1

33.7

—

—

24.4

25.6

26.0

—

—

32.4

34.8

41.8

Spain

20-22

33.1

32.0

35.2

35.0

35.3

26.4

25.5

27.5

27.1

27.1

40.0

38.9

43.2

43.3

43.8

Sweden

23-26

35.2

38.4

39.9

44.0

43.3

26.5

28.6

29.7

30.8

29.8

44.1

48.5

50.5

57.6

57.2

Switzerland

23-27

20.8

20.9

22.4

25.0

27.0

23.3

23.5

24.0

26.1

26.8

18.3

18.4

20.9

23.9

27.1

Turkey

22-28

—

—

14.0

11.3

15.4

—

—

15.2

11.8

16.3

—

—

12.7

10.7

14.5

United Kingdom

20-24

—

—

39.2

39.8

39.0

—

—

34.2

34.1

33.0

—

—

44.3

45.7

45.2

United States

22-24

36.1

33.4

33.2

34.2

35.5

29.7

27.6

27.5

28.1

29.1

42.9

39.4

39.2

40.7

42.4

Reporting partner countries

Brazil

(2)

—

—

15.6

17.5

21.3

—

—

11.8

13.3

16.2

—

—

19.4

21.6

26.4

Chile

22-24

—

—

25.1

11.5

15.0

—

—

22.9

9.7

13.0

—

—

27.5

13.4

17.0

Estonia

22-24

—

—

—

28.5

26.4

—

—

—

17.6

15.4

—

—

—

39.5

37.8

Israel

(2)

—

—

32.3

32.9

33.4

—

—

25.3

25.7

26.8

—

—

39.6

40.2

40.3

Russian Federation

19-25

—

—

—

45.9

43.7

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

Slovenia

25-26

—

—

—

21.6

21.6

—

—

—

14.3

14.2

—

—

—

29.4

29.3

—Not available.

1 Refers to the mean of the data values for all reporting OECD countries, to which each country reporting data contributes equally. The average is omitted for years in which less than 75 percent of the countries reported data.

2 Typical age of graduation data not available. Estimates calculated using the age range 22-24.

NOTE: Data in this table refer to degrees classified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 5A, first award. This level corresponds to the bachelor's degree in the United States. The recipients per 100 persons ratio relates the number of people of all ages earning bachelor's degrees in a particular year to the number of people in the population at the typical age of graduation. The typical age is based on full-time attendance and normal progression through the education system (without repeating a year, taking a year off, etc.); this age varies across countries because of differences in their education systems and differences in program duration. Data for Luxembourg are not shown because tertiary students study for only 1 year in Luxembourg. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance, 2004 through 2008; and Online Education Database, retrieved July 6, 2009, from http://stats.oecd.org/default.aspx. (This table was prepared July 2009.)